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Just a little peek into the life of Theodore Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. They live in the same world, but not the same area as Laurie, Tycho and Van. Theodore and Arkite are high-school sweethearts, and only she is allowed to call him Teddy.
I do not live in Maine, I have only visited briefly and loved what I saw. This is just a random single-draft one-shot.
All characters belong to me.
Ark and Theo were kissing in the candlelight when they heard the first strangled moan.
Both stood up, staring into the darker end of the barn. Ark, the dragon girl, was the first to identify the source of the noise, grabbing her human friend by the arm and curling her long tail protectively around her leg. “Is he… Is he having a nightmare?”
Theo blinked green eyes behind thick lenses, unable to see much in the dimness. He covered one of her hands with his and smiled assuringly down at her. “Let’s go see.”
He picked up the hurricane lamp that illuminated their space – strewn with books and notepaper, though studying had been forgotten for the past fifteen or so minutes.
Certainly it was the last thing on the pair’s minds now, creeping forward towards the stall where a behemoth lay dreaming, twisting and groaning, chuffing great, barrel-chested sleep-moans. Theo held the lamp up, and the light played across Guildenstern’s muscular, beastly frame, shining with sweat and heaving with adrenaline. The sensitive crest was livid, the respiratory vents that lined beast’s neck gasping like the gills of a landed fish.
The nameless lay on his side, paw-like hands flexing and straining against some unseen foe. The hind legs kicked faintly – in all, the great beast might have brought to mind the image of a cat, chasing mice in it’s sleep. There was a desperation here, however, that rarely troubled the mind of most housecats. The mannish brow was creased, nostrils flared, face creased in an ugly grimace of fear.
“Looks like a nightmare to me.” Ark murmured, eyes wide and ears backed. As Theo stepped towards the sleeping giant she hissed a concerned “careful Teddy”, gaze darting from one to the other.
Theo knew better than to get close. He laid the hurricane lamp on a nearby barrel and stood with arms akimbo, looking down at the monster he’d taken responsibility for only a few months ago. It seemed like forever already, but this was a first – he’d only once seen Guildenstern express anything like fear before, and it hadn’t been pretty.
“What do you think he’s dreaming about?” Ark’s voice was hushed, and almost drowned out by a stricken hog-cry from the monster. She tried again, “What do you think-“
“Water.”
Ark blinked and looked to her best friend. “Water?”
“Yup.” He knelt by the mannish head, putting a hand on each side of Guildenstern’s face. “Water.”
---
The ship bucked, men screamed over the roar of the waves, icy salt water lashed at him, and the dock heaved beneath his paws.
“Save me!”
The order came, and he galloped to the edge of the dock. Adrenaline coursed through him, coloring his crest and causing his vents to gape. The salt water burned as it played across the open organs, and Guildenstern bared his teeth in terror.
“Save me!”
Twice he made the attempt to jump. Twice pure fear overrode the blood mechanics that bound him.
“Save m-“
The bobbing white head went under and finally the blood link shut down all instinct. A thousand kilos of pale beast hung for a moment, poised with forearms raised at the edge of the dock, then the unlikely guardian angel dove head-first into the maelstrom.
Contact was hell.
For a moment he was fully immersed. Seawater invaded his respiratory vents, choking him and burning like acid on contact. He fought for the surface and as his head broke through he howled in agony, water spraying from every orifice; the storm was mightier, and howled back, drowning out his pain.
Then weak arms curled around his neck, and a shudder of relief passed through the blood link. Guildenstern gasped and snarled, choking and coughing up gallons of seawater from nose, throat and vents. He tried to make it back to the dock but the waves had torn away the ballast, and the wooden platform only sank under him.
Breath ragged, he made for the shore, less than a hundred feet away, but the lead weight of fear bore him down, made his limbs leaden and his lungs burn. He cursed the man who clung desperately to his neck, cursed him for ever bringing mighty Guildenstern to such a hideous, helpless place. Fury began to combat the fear, and though the blood link protected the weakling, the nameless could still fuel himself with his hatred.
He struck out, harder now, gritting his teeth against the burn of the seaspray on his vents, plowing hard against the waves that threatened to drag him out to sea. He felt a sandbar under a hindpaw, and gasped in relief. Digging in harder, he pushed on, one stroke after another. And another. And another.
A mighty wave struck him, a parting gift from the hateful ocean, swamping him, shoving him the last few feet, making him sputter and howl even as he dug into the sandy beach and hauled himself, dripping and heaving, onto land.
He managed to carry himself and his cargo up the beach, fifty paces, to the rocky outcropping that bordered proper land. Dragging his battered body over the rocks, he was vaguely aware of people rushing to him, no, to his master. They took the man and laid him on the ground. Guildenstern collapsed, slumping to his belly in the muddy earth, watching through glazed eyes as the men crowded his master. They heaved on the fellow’s chest, looked into his eyes, toweled him.
Guildenstern felt something in his chest spark, a deep stab of pain. He only had the energy to snarl weakly, frightening the men away from their task a moment. He lurched, crawling closer to his master. The man did not move, did not breathe. The agony in Guildenstern’s chest faded, and his entire body heaved with a sigh of relief.
Hauling himself to all fours, he leered down at the man’s face, freedom suddenly flooding his limbs with fresh warmth.
Then the man’s eyes snapped open, and they were blackness, and his mouth opened, and in it was fear.
“Guildenstern, wake up.”
---
Arkite and Theodore both flung themselves out of reach as the nameless sprang upright, waking like a volcano. Theo fell against the barrel upon which sat the hurricane lamp, and it flickered warningly.
Guildenstern stood, crouched low, claws dug into the straw floor of the barn, teeth bared and vents strained open, gasping. His gaze shot from Theo to Arkite to the lamp, then his head jerked as he took in his surroundings.
“Guildenstern, sit.” Theo barked shakily, breaking the silence.
Guildenstern sat.
“You’re in the barn, Guild. Calm down before you hurt someone.”
Recognition flooded his senses, and visibly. Muscles relaxed, and blood drained from his crest rapidly, returning it to its natural dusky color. “Theo.”
“Yes, it’s me. Arkite’s here too.”
“Arkite…” Guildenstern looked to her and inhaled with a shudder.
“It’s fine.” Arkite murmured in a voice she usually reserved for the animals at the shelter. “It’s all good, you had a nightmare.”
He growled a little, turning his face from her.
Theo huffed in relief. “I think that’s all the studying we’ll get in tonight.” He muttered regretfully, taking Ark by the arm and leading her back towards their homework site.
Once the dragon girl had gathered up all her things, pecked him on the cheek and left, Theo returned to Guildenstern’s stall. The nameless sat with his head hanging low to one side.
Theo entered the twenty-by-twenty without fear, walked right up to the monster’s side and sat, leaning his back against the beast’s haunches. Guild growled, but it was less pointed than earlier.
“I didn’t know nameless had nightmares.”
“Not often.” Guild finally rumbled.
“Tonight, though.”
“Must’ve been the storm.”
Theo frowned. “The one on the coast? This is Corinth, Guild, you’re forty miles away from it.”
“I wasn’t a year ago.” He heaved another sigh as he settled down, dropping his head onto a mound of straw and folding his arms under the curve of his throat. He closed his eyes, hoping Theo would take the hint.
Theo didn’t.
“What happened a year ago?”
Guild rattled his vents, clearly annoyed now. “Bad things. Don’t you have school tomorrow?”
“I’d have school even if you hadn’t stopped us from making out.” Theo jabbed a finger fairly gently into Guildenstern’s soft underside.
The nameless snarled, but there was little effort or malice in the sound. “I apologize for being such a giant cockblock, oh mighty conqueror of women.” The nameless muttered. “You don’t even have sex.”
“I’m waiting for Ark.” Theo shot back defensively.
“Waiting for what, for her to grow some tits?” Guildenstern bared his teeth and gave the low, rumbling cough that served for a laugh.
“Hey, Arkite’s tits are none of your business.” Theo snapped, but he couldn’t hide the grin tugging at his mouth, or the flush that brightened his neck. He liked Ark’s flat chest. “Anyway.” Standing up, the high school junior beat straw and dirt from his pants, collecting the hurricane lamp. “Might as well clean this up and head up to the house, mom’ll be down soon if I don’t.”
“Right.” Guild snorted. He swung his powerful knock, shoving Theodore several feet to the side as he climbed out of the nameless’ nest. The boy shot him a dirty look, but Guildenstern just gave another low, rumbling laugh.
“Bitch.” Theo muttered as he again had to wipe debris from his pants. He made his way back to the study table, gathered up his things and repeated the usual nightly shpiel. “Stay inside the barn tonight, don’t break anything, don’t piss on anything, don’t jack off on anything.” He made his way to the door and paused there, holding up the lamp to peer into the back of the barn. “Sweet dreams, Guildenstern.”
“Go drown in a ditch, Rosencrantz.”
Theo grinned and left, whisting as he latched the door behind him.
---
Thanks for reading!
Theo is whistling this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N18HZJLG9jg
I do not live in Maine, I have only visited briefly and loved what I saw. This is just a random single-draft one-shot.
All characters belong to me.
Ark and Theo were kissing in the candlelight when they heard the first strangled moan.
Both stood up, staring into the darker end of the barn. Ark, the dragon girl, was the first to identify the source of the noise, grabbing her human friend by the arm and curling her long tail protectively around her leg. “Is he… Is he having a nightmare?”
Theo blinked green eyes behind thick lenses, unable to see much in the dimness. He covered one of her hands with his and smiled assuringly down at her. “Let’s go see.”
He picked up the hurricane lamp that illuminated their space – strewn with books and notepaper, though studying had been forgotten for the past fifteen or so minutes.
Certainly it was the last thing on the pair’s minds now, creeping forward towards the stall where a behemoth lay dreaming, twisting and groaning, chuffing great, barrel-chested sleep-moans. Theo held the lamp up, and the light played across Guildenstern’s muscular, beastly frame, shining with sweat and heaving with adrenaline. The sensitive crest was livid, the respiratory vents that lined beast’s neck gasping like the gills of a landed fish.
The nameless lay on his side, paw-like hands flexing and straining against some unseen foe. The hind legs kicked faintly – in all, the great beast might have brought to mind the image of a cat, chasing mice in it’s sleep. There was a desperation here, however, that rarely troubled the mind of most housecats. The mannish brow was creased, nostrils flared, face creased in an ugly grimace of fear.
“Looks like a nightmare to me.” Ark murmured, eyes wide and ears backed. As Theo stepped towards the sleeping giant she hissed a concerned “careful Teddy”, gaze darting from one to the other.
Theo knew better than to get close. He laid the hurricane lamp on a nearby barrel and stood with arms akimbo, looking down at the monster he’d taken responsibility for only a few months ago. It seemed like forever already, but this was a first – he’d only once seen Guildenstern express anything like fear before, and it hadn’t been pretty.
“What do you think he’s dreaming about?” Ark’s voice was hushed, and almost drowned out by a stricken hog-cry from the monster. She tried again, “What do you think-“
“Water.”
Ark blinked and looked to her best friend. “Water?”
“Yup.” He knelt by the mannish head, putting a hand on each side of Guildenstern’s face. “Water.”
---
The ship bucked, men screamed over the roar of the waves, icy salt water lashed at him, and the dock heaved beneath his paws.
“Save me!”
The order came, and he galloped to the edge of the dock. Adrenaline coursed through him, coloring his crest and causing his vents to gape. The salt water burned as it played across the open organs, and Guildenstern bared his teeth in terror.
“Save me!”
Twice he made the attempt to jump. Twice pure fear overrode the blood mechanics that bound him.
“Save m-“
The bobbing white head went under and finally the blood link shut down all instinct. A thousand kilos of pale beast hung for a moment, poised with forearms raised at the edge of the dock, then the unlikely guardian angel dove head-first into the maelstrom.
Contact was hell.
For a moment he was fully immersed. Seawater invaded his respiratory vents, choking him and burning like acid on contact. He fought for the surface and as his head broke through he howled in agony, water spraying from every orifice; the storm was mightier, and howled back, drowning out his pain.
Then weak arms curled around his neck, and a shudder of relief passed through the blood link. Guildenstern gasped and snarled, choking and coughing up gallons of seawater from nose, throat and vents. He tried to make it back to the dock but the waves had torn away the ballast, and the wooden platform only sank under him.
Breath ragged, he made for the shore, less than a hundred feet away, but the lead weight of fear bore him down, made his limbs leaden and his lungs burn. He cursed the man who clung desperately to his neck, cursed him for ever bringing mighty Guildenstern to such a hideous, helpless place. Fury began to combat the fear, and though the blood link protected the weakling, the nameless could still fuel himself with his hatred.
He struck out, harder now, gritting his teeth against the burn of the seaspray on his vents, plowing hard against the waves that threatened to drag him out to sea. He felt a sandbar under a hindpaw, and gasped in relief. Digging in harder, he pushed on, one stroke after another. And another. And another.
A mighty wave struck him, a parting gift from the hateful ocean, swamping him, shoving him the last few feet, making him sputter and howl even as he dug into the sandy beach and hauled himself, dripping and heaving, onto land.
He managed to carry himself and his cargo up the beach, fifty paces, to the rocky outcropping that bordered proper land. Dragging his battered body over the rocks, he was vaguely aware of people rushing to him, no, to his master. They took the man and laid him on the ground. Guildenstern collapsed, slumping to his belly in the muddy earth, watching through glazed eyes as the men crowded his master. They heaved on the fellow’s chest, looked into his eyes, toweled him.
Guildenstern felt something in his chest spark, a deep stab of pain. He only had the energy to snarl weakly, frightening the men away from their task a moment. He lurched, crawling closer to his master. The man did not move, did not breathe. The agony in Guildenstern’s chest faded, and his entire body heaved with a sigh of relief.
Hauling himself to all fours, he leered down at the man’s face, freedom suddenly flooding his limbs with fresh warmth.
Then the man’s eyes snapped open, and they were blackness, and his mouth opened, and in it was fear.
“Guildenstern, wake up.”
---
Arkite and Theodore both flung themselves out of reach as the nameless sprang upright, waking like a volcano. Theo fell against the barrel upon which sat the hurricane lamp, and it flickered warningly.
Guildenstern stood, crouched low, claws dug into the straw floor of the barn, teeth bared and vents strained open, gasping. His gaze shot from Theo to Arkite to the lamp, then his head jerked as he took in his surroundings.
“Guildenstern, sit.” Theo barked shakily, breaking the silence.
Guildenstern sat.
“You’re in the barn, Guild. Calm down before you hurt someone.”
Recognition flooded his senses, and visibly. Muscles relaxed, and blood drained from his crest rapidly, returning it to its natural dusky color. “Theo.”
“Yes, it’s me. Arkite’s here too.”
“Arkite…” Guildenstern looked to her and inhaled with a shudder.
“It’s fine.” Arkite murmured in a voice she usually reserved for the animals at the shelter. “It’s all good, you had a nightmare.”
He growled a little, turning his face from her.
Theo huffed in relief. “I think that’s all the studying we’ll get in tonight.” He muttered regretfully, taking Ark by the arm and leading her back towards their homework site.
Once the dragon girl had gathered up all her things, pecked him on the cheek and left, Theo returned to Guildenstern’s stall. The nameless sat with his head hanging low to one side.
Theo entered the twenty-by-twenty without fear, walked right up to the monster’s side and sat, leaning his back against the beast’s haunches. Guild growled, but it was less pointed than earlier.
“I didn’t know nameless had nightmares.”
“Not often.” Guild finally rumbled.
“Tonight, though.”
“Must’ve been the storm.”
Theo frowned. “The one on the coast? This is Corinth, Guild, you’re forty miles away from it.”
“I wasn’t a year ago.” He heaved another sigh as he settled down, dropping his head onto a mound of straw and folding his arms under the curve of his throat. He closed his eyes, hoping Theo would take the hint.
Theo didn’t.
“What happened a year ago?”
Guild rattled his vents, clearly annoyed now. “Bad things. Don’t you have school tomorrow?”
“I’d have school even if you hadn’t stopped us from making out.” Theo jabbed a finger fairly gently into Guildenstern’s soft underside.
The nameless snarled, but there was little effort or malice in the sound. “I apologize for being such a giant cockblock, oh mighty conqueror of women.” The nameless muttered. “You don’t even have sex.”
“I’m waiting for Ark.” Theo shot back defensively.
“Waiting for what, for her to grow some tits?” Guildenstern bared his teeth and gave the low, rumbling cough that served for a laugh.
“Hey, Arkite’s tits are none of your business.” Theo snapped, but he couldn’t hide the grin tugging at his mouth, or the flush that brightened his neck. He liked Ark’s flat chest. “Anyway.” Standing up, the high school junior beat straw and dirt from his pants, collecting the hurricane lamp. “Might as well clean this up and head up to the house, mom’ll be down soon if I don’t.”
“Right.” Guild snorted. He swung his powerful knock, shoving Theodore several feet to the side as he climbed out of the nameless’ nest. The boy shot him a dirty look, but Guildenstern just gave another low, rumbling laugh.
“Bitch.” Theo muttered as he again had to wipe debris from his pants. He made his way back to the study table, gathered up his things and repeated the usual nightly shpiel. “Stay inside the barn tonight, don’t break anything, don’t piss on anything, don’t jack off on anything.” He made his way to the door and paused there, holding up the lamp to peer into the back of the barn. “Sweet dreams, Guildenstern.”
“Go drown in a ditch, Rosencrantz.”
Theo grinned and left, whisting as he latched the door behind him.
---
Thanks for reading!
Theo is whistling this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N18HZJLG9jg
Category Story / Fantasy
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 120 x 110px
File Size 17.8 kB
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